Clint’s Bits – July 10, 2009

– “Truth Unspoken”, written and directed by Ebony Lewis, a suspense drama about a couples journey through life, lies, love and ultimately a life changing decision, will be screening at the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival Aug 5th – Aug 8th

– “So Whaddya Think?”, Debi Bradshaw’s tale of a slacker inventor who longs for genius recognition and financial freedom, will screen at the 13th Annual LA Shorts Fest (Laemelle’s Sunset 5 at 8000 Sunset Blvd. West Hollywood) on Thursday, July 23rd 5:30 p.m.

– Will Warner Bros “be CG-ing our little Hogwarts students or swapping them out for new actors entirely in the tricky final scene” of the final “Harry Potter” movie? i09 has the answer.

– Bloody Disgusting has the final one-sheet for the highly-anticipating (though I’m already expecting it to suck worse than a toothy hooker) “Jennifer’s Body”.

– Seems Bruce Willis has indeed filmed a cameo for Sly Stallone’s “The Expendables”. There’s an article here about it, and a YouTube video from Randy Couture confirming the “Die Hard” star’s involvement. Thanks to ‘Mike’

– There’s a humorous feature ‘Johnny Depp vs. Christian Bale’ posted on the celebrity and entertainment site, DailyFill.com. The post compares various roles Bale and Depp have played over the years and decides what character would win the duel.

– Warner Bros. Digital Distribution today announced the availability of exclusive Harry Potter content on the iTunes Store (www.iTunes.com). Harry Potter fans can download for free and enjoy never before seen footage from the highly anticipated “Half-Blood Prince”.

– The title of Michael Moore’s next film has been announced : “Capitalism: A Love Story” will light up theater marquees nationally on October 2nd.

– Radio legend Wendy Williams talks to Bet about the film based on her life that’s in the pipeline. Robin Givens (“A Rage in Harlem”) will play Williams.

– Acclaimed actresses Frances O’Connor, Miranda Otto, Deborra-lee Furness and Victoria Haralabidou will gather on the red carpet for the gala world premiere of ”Blessed”, the powerful new film by award-winning director Ana Kokkinos. The film’s world premiere is on Saturday 25 July at the Melbourne International Film Festival.

– Bond star Daniel Craig will team with one-time Bond hopeful Hugh Jackman for the Broadway production of Keith Huff’s two-hander “A Steady Rain,” bowing at the Schoenfeld Theater in September. John Crowley (“The Pillowman”) helms the show, about two Chicago cops whose friendship is rocked by a domestic dispute that is not what it seems. It’ll set you back a whopping $130 to see the show!

– Comedy legend Michael McKean (“This is Spinal Tap”, “Best in Show”) will topline the Broadway production of Tracy Letts’ play “Superior Donuts,” with the thesp reprising the role he essayed in the show’s Chicago preem. McKean portrays the owner of a run-down Chi doughnut shop. (Variety)

– Sony is still keen to make the recently-postponed “Moneyball”, hiring Aaron Sorkin (“The West Wing”) to polish Steve Zaillian’s script. Sorkin’s changes will be more in line with the version the studio favored all along, with the focus on Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane, who assembled a contending baseball club on a shoestring budget by employing a sophisticated computer-based analysis to draft players. Soderbergh’s draft and production plans took a more documentary approach that the studio felt wouldn’t cross over commercially with moviegoers. Brad Pitt remains attached to star. (Variety)

– ”The Court pointedly ruled that if Warner Bros. does not start production on another Superman film by 2011, the Siegels will be able to sue to recover their damages” – more at Variety

– “Napoleon Dynamite” star Jon Heder has teamed with Will Ferrell and Adam McKay for an unusual Comedy Central sitcom deal about an out-of-work computer IT specialist who returns to his small hometown and moves in with his parents and younger brother. Ferrell may even make appearances on the show. (The Hollywood Reporter)

– There’s a great article about the relationship between film websites, such as ours, and studios up at The Hollywood Reporter. Good to see my bud ‘Stax’ getting some air time!

– “Let the Right One In” scribe Tomas Alfredson has been signed to adapt John Le Carre’s cold war novel “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”. (The Hollywood Reporter)

– A casting call has been posted for martial arts experts to be part of the “stealth TMNT nemesis, the Foot Clan” in the live-action “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” movie, according to Slashfilm.com

– Eli Roth tells Shock Til You Drop that he’s not involved in “Hostel 3”.

– Kate Beckinsale has sued The Daily Express after the newspaper claimed she had lost the lead role in “Barbarella” to Rose McGowan – when in fact Beckinsale was never up for the role in the first place. (The Telegraph)

– Several pics from Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut “Whip It!” have appeared at the USA Today website.

– Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Cameron Diaz is in talks to play the female lead in “The Green Hornet”, starring opposite Seth Rogen.

– Warner Bros are insistent that there’s no “Smallville” telemovie (one in which Clark will finally don the the tights) planned to follow the next season of the series. That’s not to say the ‘S’ symbol won’t be all over the next season of the show though. (The Ausiello Files)

– Rory Cochrane may be returning to do an episode of “CSI Miami” (The Ausiello Files)

– Ed Sanchez tells Entertainment Weekly that the wheels-are-a-moving on a new “Blair Witch” film – finally. “The prequel would probably be our No. 1 movie. But there are some cool sequel ideas that we have right now. At the same time, for Dan [Myrick] and me, there’s this challenge of living up to the creative excitement that we had working on the first film. We really have to be 100 percent sure that it’s going to elicit a similar response to what the first one did for the fans. And that doesn’t mean we shoot it again in first-person video. You can’t start the next Blair Witch movie with a shaky video camera. You just can’t. It would turn people off immediately. Okay, so now what do you do? It is a challenge, but we’re up for it.”

– Todd Phillips will next direct the road trip comedy “Due Date,” and follow exactly one year later with “The Hangover 2.” (Variety)

Film Reccomendation of the Day

My Best Friend’s Wedding – One of the best romantic comedies of the 90s, and easily one of Julia Roberts’ best pictures. The film transformed disgusting “Young Guns” spit-maggot Dermot Mulroney into a bonafide leading man… forever typecasting him as a schmaltzy seemingly-always-available romantic lead. A really sweet movie, with loads of laughs (many of which are supplied by Rupert Everett in his comeback role), some great tunes, and a punchy, effective script.